Ask 411 Movies for 1.9.06: Gilligan, Nixon and Me
Posted by Leonard Hayhurst on 01.09.2006
Anchorman, Godzilla, Tarzan, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Francis Ford Coppola’s Pinocchio
It's my birthday. I WILL cry if I want to. I share it with Richard Nixon, Bob Denver, Crystal Gayle, Muggsy Bogues, Joan Baez, Sergio Garcia, Dave Matthews, Haddaway, Mark Martin, Joely Richardson, JK Simmons, Lee Van Cleef, Dick Enberg and Jimmy Page.
NETFLIX MOVIE OF THE WEEK
For those of you who missed last week, and shame on you, I've joined Netflix. My first film was Mr. and Mrs. Smith. It was very enjoyable for what it was. It was a mindless action flick that knew that it was, so with that it was able to come across with a certain amount of charm and wit. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have fantastic chemistry, as we all know now, and were just perfect in their roles. I've got the sequel all figured out, you put them against a rival spy couple named Jones. However, knowing Hollywood they will probably give them a baby and that's the wrong move.
FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA'S PINNOCHIO
Francis Ford Coppola began his career at Warner Brothers, but fell out of favor with them when Seven Arts sold the studio to Kinney National Service. Warners made a pitch to him to return to them in the early nineties and Coppola did so only because he was having a hard time drumming up support for some pet projects. One of them was Pinocchio. It was supposed to be a mix of live action, animation and puppetry. Coppola had entered into an agreement with Henson Productions to handle the puppet work. Brian Henson strongly related to the story, because he had lost his father who was in a since a ‘toy maker' and Coppola who had his one son pass away felt that he was a ‘toy maker' who had lost his son. Christopher Walken, Anthony Quinn and Lauren Bacall were also in talks to star. Storyboards had been drawn up, songs written, costumes made. Warner Brothers then grew cold feet and nixed the project. Coppola then took it to Columbia. The then current head of the studio was Lucy Fisher who had been an executive at Coppola's production company American Zeotrope. Well, as soon as Columbia signed on Warner Brothers was all about the film again and claimed to have exclusive rights to it. Coppola publicly stated they had no respect for him and that he had personally paid to start pre-production. He tried to work with Warners to get the film made, but no dice. Multiple legal battles killed it.
Grammy winning singer Lou Rawls passed away of lung and brain cancer on Friday at the age of 72. He appeared in several films and television series, including providing the songs for several "Garfield" specials. Rawls hosted benefit telethons for the United Negro College Fund that raised millions of dollars for the group. His songs include "You'll Never Find," "Natural Man," "Your Good Thing is About to End" and "Lady Love."
Q: "The best portrayal of Kennedy, if not the most accurate, has to be black Ossie Davis as an old man who thinks he's JFK, or maybe he is, in Bubba Ho-Tep." - Leonard Hayhurst
That sir, is why you really friggin' rule! Good bye, God bless, now off to bed and don't die.
Sorry, no questions, but lots of answers.
All the best,
-Vince Ortega
A: When I'm getting crapped on in the Wrestling Zone for not worshipping at the alter of Bret Hart I still have you guys here. Bless you my son. And since it's a light week and you're a good boy you get a bio of Ossie Davis whether you want it or not.
Ossie Davis was born December 18th 1917 in Cogdell, Georgia. His real name was Raiford Chatam Davis, but a clerk of courts couldn't understand his mother's thick pronunciation of his initials "RC" and heard it as "Ossie" and the name stuck. His brother William was a scientist who invented instant mashed potatoes. Well, you knew somebody did. He graduated from Howard University in 1938 and went to New York to join the theater scene. He made his film debut in 1950 with Sidney Poitier in No Way Out. Davis was a writer, director and actor in both theater and films that always did his best to break the stereotypes of African Americans. He married wife Ruby Dee in 1948 and they often came as a packaged deal on projects. They were also civil rights leaders who helped organize the famous civil rights march on Washington. Davis spoke at the funerals of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. Davis was rediscovered in the early nineties thanks to the films of Spike Lee and the Burt Reynolds sitcom "Evening Shade." He passed away of natural causes on February 4th 2005 while filming a movie in Miami Beach. His last completed work before his passing was oddly a death scene on the Showtime series "The L Word" where he played the father of Jennifer Beals' character.
Q: In Anchorman is the dog being named Baxter a reference to Ted Baxter from The Mary Tyler Moore Show?
-Brian
A: Yes. Also, the head of the news department played by Fred Willard is named Ed after Ed Asner who played the similar part of Lou Grant on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." Will Ferrell wrote the screenplay with Adam McKay after Ferrell was inspired by a documentary of famous female news anchor Jessica Savitch. Being set in the seventies they wanted to throw in as many subtle seventies references as possible and being about a local news team "Marry Tyler Moore" was a natural inspiration. Ferrell has also said in interviews that he took a lot of Ron's on air persona from Ted Knight's portrayal of bumbling, cocky, clueless news anchor Ted Baxter.
Q: Hey Leo
Since I was little, I got hooked onto the Japanese Godzilla films. Still am to this day, old habits die hard I guess. One thing puzzles me though. Why isn't Godzilla down in the record books for the length of movies he's put out. All those movies aren't remake's (except for the 1998 remake) they're sequels, all based off of the original 1954 hit, one way or another. There's been a total of 28 films all together, if I recall, no other, not even James Bond, series has matched that. Godzilla did get a star on the walk of fame over a year ago I know, but that almost seems like a record that's yet to be broken. Has there been any other film series that beats that? Does that disserve to go down in the history books as the longest movies series?
-Drew
A: We talked about the Godzilla film series back in the April 4th 2004 column. You can find it in the archive. I think what hurts the Godzilla films in the all time longest running film series list is the amount of crossovers and the fact that there are actually two distinct series of the films. The original series is known as the Showa era and runs from the first movie to Godzilla 1985. There are roughly 16 films officially considered part of the Godzilla series there, not counting solo efforts by the other monsters like Mothra and Rodan. The series was revived in the early nineties with an updating of many of the classic monsters and is known as the Heisei era, which have contributed about another 12 flicks.
We've talked about long running film series in the past too. The James Bond series currently stands at 20 entries with a new one on the way. The spoof version of Casino Royal and Sean Connery's return to the role in Never Say Never Again are not considered officially part of the main series. The Tarzan film series ran some 45 films over fifty years through several studios, including a television series with Ron Ely in the late sixties. Since we have nothing else to do, roll up your sleeves. We are going to look at the bulk of Tarzan's history on film.
Tarzan of the Apes (1918): This is considered by many to be the Tarzan film closest to the original novel. College athlete and former Vaudeville ukulele player Stellan Windrow, aka Winslow Wilson, was hired for the lead, but he quit after five weeks to join the army in World War I. He was replaced by Elmo Lincoln, a barrel-chested former Arkansas cop. During one scene the old, drugged lion they were using for a fight turned on Elmo and he actually killed the animal with the knife he had. The production had the animal stuffed and displayed for the film's New York premiere.
The Romance of Tarzan (1918): No known copy of this exists. Tarzan is attacked by natives and believed killed before he was to set sail for England with Jane (Enid Markey). A distraught Jane goes to her family's ranch in California. Tarzan shows up and saves her from outlaws. Jane becomes jealous when she thinks Tarzan is stepping out with another woman (Cleo Madison). Tarzan learns that women are evil and returns to the jungle. Jane follows, because that's what women do.
Adventures of Tarzan (1921): This was a serial. Rumors exist that Lincoln had to kill a nasty lion on the set of this one too. The main plot thread had Tarzan battling a pretender (Scott Pembroke) to the Greystoke estate and fending off the advances of a tribal queen (Lillian Worth).
The Revenge of Tarzan (1920): Elmo Lincoln was replaced here with Gene Pollar. Tarzan and Jane (Karla Schramm) go to France to help the Countess de Coude (Estelle Taylor) deal with her evil brother (Armand Cortes).
Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1927): Tarzan's (James Pierce) cousin Betty Greystoke (Edna Murphy) falls in love with the head of Tarzan's African estate (Frederick Peters). While Tarzan is off searching for a cache of diamonds she becomes an intended sacrifice for a lion goddess. Women can't stay out of trouble.
Tarzan the Mighty (1928): New Tarzan Frank Merrill was Lincoln's stunt double in the first movie. Joe Bonomo was contracted for the movie, but he broke his leg on another film. To promote the film Merrill's publicist entered his picture in a ‘physical culture' contest and he came in second as the World's Most Perfectly Developed Man. Wonder who came in first. Two kids (Natalie Kingston and Bobby Nelson) are shipwrecked in Africa and helped by Tarzan. They in turn help him fight Black John (Al Ferguson) who is pretending to be Tarzan to steal the Greystoke estate.
Tarzan the Tiger (1929): I dare them to make this one today. Tarzan's African estate is burned by Arabs and Jane is sold to a slave ring. Tarzan has amnesia from the attack, but recovers it after a second blow to the head. Another film with Merrill in the lead was planned after this one, but his voice was not considered good for talkies.
Tarzan the Ape Man (1932): Now we're in the salad years. Johnny Weissmuller won five Olympic gold medals for swimming. When MGM came calling for Tarzan he was working for BVD modeling swim trunks and underwear. BVD only let him out of the contract when the studio allowed them to use their starlets to promote their new women's swimwear line. If it wasn't for that the part would have went to some dude named Clark Gable. Never heard of him. As is usually the case, the famed line of "Me Tarzan, You Jane" was never spoken in this film. This is a bit of a rebooting of the film series for the sound age. Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan) tags along with her father (C. Aubrey Smith) to Africa on an expedition to find the famed elephant burial ground and harvest the ivory. One night she is abducted by Tarzan and his ape friends. They mean her no harm, they just want to stop her father and his shifty partner (Neil Hamilton) from taking the ivory.
Tarzan and his Mate (1934): An infamous nude swimming scene was deleted upon initial release and restored by the good folks at Turnerland in the 1990's. However, it's not O'Sullivan who appears naked, but Olympic swimmer Josephine McKim as her double. Harry Holt returns still looking for the cache of ivory with his new crony Marlin Arlington (Paul Cavanaugh). Arlington shoots Tarzan and they abduct Jane. Tarzan shows that he's alive just in time to save them all from angry natives.
Tarzan Escapes (1936): Jane's cousin Eric (William Henry) leads Captain Fry (John Buckler) to Tarzan. He kidnaps Tarzan and locks him in a cage for display in the civilized world. He escapes, hence the name, and kicks ass.
Tarzan Finds a Son (1939): Johnny Sheffield is introduced as the aptly named Boy. Weissmuller hand picked Sheffield from hundreds that auditioned. Censors wouldn't let Tarzan and Jane parent a child since they weren't officially married, so they find their ‘son' in a plane crash. Turns out the boy is an heir to a fortune. Who knew so many rich orphans got lost in the jungle. Originally Jane was to be killed off because O'Sullivan wanted to leave the series. This was leaked and fan fervor changed the finale.
Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941): Due to the death of Irving Thalberg the Tarzan series was regulated to B-movie status. An expedition discovers that gold exists on Tarzan's land and they kidnap Jane and Boy to get it from him.
Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942): Elmo Lincoln has a cameo as a circus roustabout. Charles Bickford plays circus promoter Buck Rand who kidnaps Boy for his show. Tarzan and Jane follow them to New York. A custody trial is held over Boy. Tarzan gets mad and is held in contempt of court. He escapes the cops by diving off the Brooklyn Bridge. Boy is eventually saved and officially awarded to his adopted parents.
Tarzan Triumphs (1943): The series switched to RKO. This meant the loss of O'Sullivan who didn't want to keep on with the series anyway. Jane's absence was explained as her visiting relatives in England. Female influence is provided by Frances Gifford as Zandra, the white princess of a lost African civilization. The Nazis attempt to enslave her people and steal her gold. They take a potshot at Tarzan and he goes after them. Features the famous line "Now Tarzan make war!"
Tarzan's Desert Mystery (1943): Jane is now working as a nurse in the war and sends Tarzan a letter that she needs him to find a rare malaria serum that can be obtained from certain jungle plants. Tarzan and Boy trek across the desert to an Arab city where they free a female magician (Nancy Kelly) who was put in jail for giving a secret letter to the local sheik. More Nazis are fought.
Tarzan and the Amazons (1945): A group of archeologists want Tarzan to lead them to a lost city of Amazon women. He refuses, but they trick Boy into doing it, what with him hitting puberty and all. The Amazons then enlists Tarzan's help to fend them off.
Tarzan and the Leopard Woman (1946): With Jane away the swinging jungle cat will play. So in this one she comes back as new actress Brenda Joyce. An African tribe devoted to worshipping the leopard want to halt encroaching civilization. After Tarzan stops them from attacking a caravan of harmless travelers they attack Jane and Boy, then kidnap Tarzan. It falls to pet ape Cheetah to save the day.
Tarzan and the Huntress (1947): After World War II a shortage of zoo animals (Hitler thought the giraffes were Jewish, I don't know) leads an animal trainer (Patricia Morison), her financial backer (Barton MacLane) and her evil trail boss (John Warburton) to harvest animals from Africa. They negotiate a deal with the local king (Charles Trowbridge), but take more animals than he said to. Tarzan kicks their asses.
Tarzan and the Mermaids (1948): This was Weissmuller's last film in the loincloth. Sadly his stunt double Angel Garcia died while performing a cliff dive. At one point Weissmuller did all his stunts himself, but encroaching age gave him arthritic knees and that's one reason he gave up the part. He did move to Columbia and star in 16 Jungle Jim programmers before retiring. Sheffield was too old for Boy, so they said he was at school in England. A local high priest (George Zucco) tries to make a kidnapped girl (Linda Christian) marry a crooked pearl trader (Fernando Wagner) posing as the god Balu. She escapes and enlists the help of Tarzan and Jane.
Tarzan the Fearless (1933): Edgar Rice Burroughs was not happy with the way the Tarzan series was progressing and decided to back his own film. It starred another former Olympian in Buster Crabbe. Crabbe was best known for playing sci-fi characters Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. This was intended to be a serial, but several theaters didn't advertise that or run all the parts, so that led to confusion and poor reviews. Really, MGM did their best to undermine the film because they didn't want anyone stealing the thunder of their successful Tarzan series. Mary Brooks' (Julie Bishop) father (E. Alyn Warren) is kidnapped by the people of Zar and she enlists Tarzan's help to free him.
The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935): This was a 17 part serial that was turned into two feature films. One with the title of the serial and the second from 1938 as Tarzan and the Green Goddess. This was another attempt by Edgar Rice Burroughs to reclaim his character and it didn't work. You will sense a trend as Olympic shot putter Herman Brix plays Tarzan. Brix would later go to acting school and change his name to Bruce Bennett, going on to a pretty decent career as a character actor. Basically two rival expeditions are after the same green Goddess totem and Tarzan gets mixed up in it as he's looking for a lost friend.
We're not even in the fifties yet. I'll cut it off this week. We'll finish later. So don't die.
"I'm an orphan. My parents died when I was five."
"Who was that kind fellow that gave you away at our wedding?"
"A paid actor."
"Ha! I said, I said I saw your dad on ‘Fantasy Island.'"
